Unilever Announces Q2 Results

Posted: July 31, 2008

Unilever announced its second quarter and half-year 2008 financial results, which included underlying sales growth of 6.8% in the second quarter, bringing the half year rate to 7%. Europe grew by 2.3% in both the quarter and the half year. The Americas sustained momentum with 5.7% growth in the first half year. In Latin America, growth accelerated in both value and volume, including a good performance in Brazil. Growth in Asia Africa picked up further to 15.1% in the second quarter. At a global level, all categories grew by more than 5% in the first half year.

“Our performance in the first half year has been good in what has been a challenging environment,” says group chief executive Patrick Cescau. “The changes already implemented in the business have made us nimbler and better able to respond to the market conditions. We are doing so against our clear priorities of maintaining competitiveness, improving margins and investing selectively to gain market share. Looking to the future, our strategy leverages our strong brands, broad geographic footprint and products that meet everyday needs across a wide range of price points. For this year, we confirm our outlook for delivering growth ahead of our 3-5% target range, with an underlying improvement in operating margin.”